


A Good Kid; An Overgrown Punk

by AuntieEm30



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Atonement - Freeform, Dad!Tony, Gen, No character bashing, Or not, Reconciliation, brief mention(s) of trauma, can be read with Stucky / Stony shipping goggles if one so chooses, my slice of Infinity-War lead-up, the focus is familial / platonic, warnings subject to change
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 04:20:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14204925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuntieEm30/pseuds/AuntieEm30
Summary: A speculative/fix-it take on Infinity War; the Avengers, current and former, are almost all localized to Wakanda at the start.  There the explosive center of the team, Tony and Steve, meet for the first time since CW.  But they've both done a lot of learning and growing and healing since then, and the presence of a bright new addition could be what brings their conflict to an end.*DISCONTINUED*





	A Good Kid; An Overgrown Punk

Tony knew that banding together the shards of the former team to face this unprecedentedly-massive threat would mean having to work with Rogers in some capacity again. Which probably meant they’d be forced to meet face-to-face at some point. He wasn’t expecting it to be so soon, in the encampment in the plains of Wakanda, where they were meeting King T’challa and his forces, Natasha, Bruce, and most of the others.

He also hadn’t expected it to happen when Peter was with him. It caught him off guard, which he usually tries to cover with sharpness or irritation. Neither of which were even remotely fabricated states right now.

He told himself he shouldn’t be so nervous just because Peter was there. Steve may have been a selfish back-stabber, but he wouldn’t attack his spiderling with no provocation. And hell, the kid traded blows with the fugitive at that damn airport in Germany with dedication and skill; if anything he should feel more comfortable with Spider-Man at his side (that fucking shield ramming down at him, cutting into him - no, into the suit-).

But he also remembered that the former icon of patriotism had also been a childhood hero of Peter’s, and he wasn’t sure if that would manifest itself in the here and now, when emergency demanded cooperation with those he’d previously fought. He hated how unsteady that made him feel, and he was willing to put off having to find out. He held back from approaching Rogers, instead diverting to converse with Bruce and Natasha. Or at least, he was trying to calmly converse until he saw Peter, not noticing the others and still masked, press on, walking steadily to stand before a now darkly-dressed, longer-haired, and- bearded? (what the hell?) Steven Grant Rogers. Then his attention was firmly on the kid - for security purposes, obviously. He wasn’t at all upset when his spider-kid’s opening tone toward Rogers was almost friendly.

“Captain Rogers. Uh, long time, no see, dude. I mean, you do a jailbreak, become a fugitive, you don’t call, you don’t write - I mean after that one… ugh. That was not good, gotta say. Anyway.” The soldier blinked in response to the barrage of a greeting.

“It’s just Steve, now,” the former Captain went with evenly, holding out a hand. Peter looked down at it a moment, then up, and Tony pretended not to feel a twinge of disappointment when he then took it and gave one firm shake before quickly releasing. Rogers took it in stride. “But it’s good to see you still swinging, Spider-Man. I, uh…” He actually shuffled a bit on his feat. “I’m sorry I dropped that crap on you at the airport. And… kicked you kind of hard. That was a bit unnecessary.” To his credit, he looked like he meant it. It wasn’t enough to even remotely abate Tony’s simmering anger. Peter evidently chose to take the high road with a shrug.

“Ah, hey, it’s whatever, man. That whole thing was a cluster-f—“ He awkwardly cut himself off, eyes cutting briefly to Tony, then back. Jeez, this kid. “Hardly the worst I’ve ever had. Not even in the top fifteen.” Steve offered a lopsided sort of smile, clearly concerned by what that meant for the youngster’s level of risk-taking in his regular routine, but not wanting to make it more awkward.

“Well, it’s great to see one of us so well adjusted, to be honest.”

“Um, yeah… thanks.” His head bobbed side to side a bit. “I mean, it’s…sure. Oh, uh, by the way-“

So suddenly it almost seemed spastic, Peter’s fist collided with Steve’s nose, snapping the former’s head back mostly from surprise (Peter admittedly had to jump a little to reach). Everyone in the general vicinity, including Tony, startled in shock.

The young vigilante briefly took advantage of Steve’s second of rebound to follow with a hook to the jaw - which almost succeeded in knocking down the super-soldier, but not quite. Tony absolutely did not let out a tiny, inexplicable giggle of appreciation.

Then, as suddenly as he’d attacked, the kid backed off, body language snapping back to neutral, hands waving a bit as he began talking animatedly.

“Look, I’m not saying you weren’t on to anything, ok? I mean, actually trying to stop a hoard of homicidal nazi super-soldiers being released, that’s kind of important. And hey, I kinda understand about the Accords, you know? I looked through ‘em and the old ones really were pretty sketchy… but not telling Mr. Stark about his parents that whole time? And still accepting all the help he gave you, the funding? Like, who does that? I mean, I heard that you guys argued a lot, but that’s no reason to keep something that big from someone on your team. And ganging up on him and putting your shield in his chest? I’d be freaking terrified. Busting his suit and just leaving him there to rot? It’s, like, freezing all the time in Siberia, dude, or something. Who knows how long he might have had to wait for help! That’s… that’s just shitty. Super-shitty. I’d thought you were better than that, man. Why would you do that?”

Peter’s tone had started out actually rather amicable, but rose with a sort of befuddled aggression as he started listing the charges of offense, reaching a peak of a kind of hurt anger close to the end, before dropping down into plaintive disappointment, in a way that revealed just how young he still was.

A resounding, gobsmacked silence followed.

Tony, in his worst moments after Siberia, had descended into swirling eddies of anger and bitterness, before focusing his energy back on Peter and Rhodey, Pepper and Happy, overall damage control, outreach, and generally putting his life back together, slowly but steadily. He’d spent a lot of those dark episodes imaging what he’d say to St- to Rogers if he ever had to cross paths with him. Most of it was biting, ruthless and vitriolic, sometimes to the point of diverging from what had hurt him so much in the first place to just whatever petty insult that he could sharpen into a weapon he could come up with. Some of it was pretty disgusting and shameful to hear later, to be honest (FRIDAY had oh-so-graciously recorded some of it without prompting, the brat).

He really couldn’t have said which of those words he’d strung together when he was alone would actually be brought into the light of day now that they had to share a battlefield again. He wouldn’t have had time (or memory) to spout everything he’d thought up, but he certainly wouldn’t know how to narrow it down.

Now… now, as he stood completely still, the breath and the anger shocked out of him, he honestly wasn’t sure any of it needed to be said. Everything that really mattered had been laid out plainly and firmly by the young hero from Queens, without any thought of prompting from Tony himself. He was surprised to realize how much the kid learned about what happened. Honestly, he was damn proud that Peter had enough fairness to educate himself, take many factors into account, and acknowledge when mistakes were made by the home team (further solidifying his belief that the kid would be the best of all of them eventually - probably sooner). 

But most of all… to hear the kid - his kid - speak up for him like that, to defend his right to be treated with the same basic human respect as the rest of the team with such confidence and empathy, asking for an answer for both Tony and for himself… it meant more than any delayed emotional unloading could. Yeah, he still had the right to speak for himself, but… right now, he honestly didn’t feel like it. It had been a long time since he’d been this moved. No, there was no extra water in his eyes. At all.

It didn’t mean he wasn’t still waiting tensely for Rogers’ reply, though, if he decided to give one. Which it seemed he would, given the deep breath the now-shaggy blond took. He didn’t puff his chest up or cross his arms or adopt his patently reserved expression of self-righteousness; he just let his hands hang loosely by his sides, and looked the younger man solemnly in the eyes (of the mask).

“Because… Captain America is better than that, but Steve Rogers forgot how to be. They aren’t one and the same. Because your heroes are people that can lose sight of what they first fought for, and fail to trust people along the way. And despite what happened that led to it, that’s still on me. Every word you just said is completely true, kid. I started losing track of what that shield was meant for long before I let it go. The person wielding it should be a better friend and better communicator than I was. I knew I wasn’t really what Captain America was supposed to be anymore - just an overgrown punk who thought I knew enough; desperate to hold onto one person, letting my fears make a bad situation worse, until I couldn’t turn back.” 

Every word uttered with absolute, blameless calm. Not turmoil, but remorse, and humility, and acceptance.

Unintentionally, Peter and Tony both let out a deep breath at the same time. After a moment, while Tony was still trying to string coherent thoughts together and reboot his damn brain, Peter seemed to recover faster.

“Well, that’s, uh,” he huffed uncertainly, “that’s… cool. I mean, that’s… that’s good to hear. I mean, we’ll see.” He tried to pull together a semblance of sternness, which could only be adorable given how much shorter and slighter he was than Rogers. “Yeah, we’ll see how it goes.” Steve nodded.

“I understand.” Peter seemed to hesitate a moment, before letting his tension out in a breath. He then reached up, and before Tony could shout a word of protest, pulled off his mask, looking up at Rogers calmly. If the soldier was surprised by how young the budding hero before him looked, he didn’t let it show.

“Peter,” he said simply. 

Slowly, Rogers smiled, more broadly this time. “Pleasure to meet you, Queens.”

Peter smirked back challengingly. “You too, Brooklyn.”

*********

Later, after the sun had set, the camp had quieted down, and Peter was busy fanboying over being able to talk with both Dr. Bruce Banner AND the Black Widow, Steve came to find Tony - being casually careful not to stand too close. At least he could respect boundaries, now. Tony, for his part, chose not to say anything. He didn’t know what to say now, and didn’t feel like risking his blood pressure to force something out. They let the silence simple exist for several moments, neither comfortable, nor, surprisingly, all that uncomfortable. Finally, Steve took a breath.

“You want to hear something weird?” Tony huffed.

“Not especially, but otherwise there’s not really a reason for the two of us to be standing here, so knock yourself out. It doesn’t have to be metaphorically.”

Steve just let out a quick breath that could have been a subdued laugh. “I was gonna say how surreal it is to get the shovel talk from a teenager, regarding a man, what, three times his age? And have it actually be intimidating. He had to look way up. It’s an experience.”

Tony’s mind was nearly blank with confusion for a moment, before he caught up.

“Peter talked to you? Again?” His former teammate nodded.

“I wouldn’t worry. It wasn’t anything you’d need to be concerned over, or anything he was trying to hide.”

“Well, what did he say?” Tony pressed sharply, turning to face the soldier more. Steve fixed an all-too-perceptive look on him.

“Like he said earlier, that he was willing to keep an open mind depending on how I handle myself - and work with everyone - out there, in regards to the less personal stuff. And that if I ever hurt you again, or even gave the slightest hint of going down that road, he’d break his no-killing rule.”

And didn’t that just punch the air right out of Tony’s lungs.

Steve wisely chose to stay quiet and face forward again for a few moments, giving Tony time to process… no, he was going to save really thinking about that for later. When he really let that sink in, he wanted to be alone. That moment of revelation was just for him; not for Steve to witness. 

He cleared his throat, acting like there wasn’t the beginning of a lump in it. “And you said it worked? Well, you certainly can’t fault Spider-Man for lack of conviction,” he tried to say lightly. The other nodded. 

“He’s a good kid.” Tony didn’t feel like providing details about how that was a massive understatement, all the times Peter had driven him batty aside, so he just hummed in agreement. It was quiet again for some time. Then…

“I wasn’t placating the kid, back there. I was wrong to keep the information about your parents from you. And I was wrong to leave you the way I did in Siberia. I’ve got no excuse. I was selfish.”

As much as Tony didn’t want to get into this right now, actually hearing the words from the man he’d never expected to hurt him so much, and knowing what Peter said for him… Something inside him shifted, and a knot in his gut uncoiled some.

“I… I understand why you kept it to yourself,” He nearly whispered. 

Seeing Steve whip his head around to stare at him in shock, he sharply continued, back to normal volume. “That doesn’t make it remotely ok. That doesn’t mean I forgive it. I don’t think that’s a possibility. But I do understand it.”

Steve considered him for a moment, speculative.

“You do?”

“Yeah.” He paused. Took a steadying breath. “I guess I got reminded of what it’s like to… to have someone you want to protect so badly that all your sense goes out the window.”

The soldier reflected on that for a moment, then gazed fifty yards along the camp, to where Peter was still soaking up Nat’s and Bruce’s anecdotes like an awe-struck sponge. He felt more than saw Tony catching his study of the young vigilante. He turned back to see the inventor’s body rigid with sudden tension, his face stone-hard with silent warnings and threats. With a palpable sense of ‘don’t you dare’ that can only come from soul-deep fear.

With just his eyes, and a small shake of his head, he responded. With just that, he gave his word, his binding promise, to never ever use Tony’s feelings for Peter against him, or vice versa. To never bring any harm to the brave young man. To never exploit their bond. To never even entertain the notion.

He wouldn’t have done any of that anyway. But it was important for Tony to know.

Seeing the genius slowly, carefully start to let himself relax again, he nodded once more in reassurance, and turned to look back out over the plains.

“Yeah,” he mused. “To have someone like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> A couple thoughts on this fic:
> 
> It saddens me that so many Tony and Peter father-son fics (that aren't also Stony / superfamily) feature bashing on Steve. I don't hate on anyone who writes one of those, I just don't find it emotionally engaging to have one be a heartless asshole and the other a saintly victim. They both had bad experiences, emotional baggage, good ideas but made stupid decisions. So I tried for a balance here where everyone has something to learn or realize. I think it doesn't shy away from what Steve did, but the parts where he's seen the most critically are from Tony's pov. I think I ended up conveying Tony's growth/recovery more through internal exposition, and Steve's more though the way he talks.
> 
> Let me know what you think of the characterizations overall.
> 
> Also, it's a tiny thing, but I'm retcon-ing out that stupid goddamn line from Steve in AoU; "sometimes my teammates don't tell me things." I can accept selfishness and mistrust in a character that's still meant to be sympathetic (CV is labeled and framed as his movie), but that kind of hypocrisy is a tipping point.
> 
> Still welcoming constructive feedback, btw. You're awesome, especially if you read all of these notes XD


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